Which broadband, tv & phone package?

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Davidc

Guru
Location
Somerset UK
^^ MY is probably better up on the Virgin charges than I am. The people in Bristol moved into a house with existing Virgin cable. They took up the Phone and Broadband offer but declined the TV package. They already had the Humax box and so put a dish up to use their freesat + instead. I don't know the price for the TV but I gathered it was a lot.
 
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The Jogger

The Jogger

Legendary Member
Location
Spain
Sod their tv then I will explore the other suggestions on here when the time comes.
 

Garz

Squat Member
Location
Down
I have just ditched Virgin after many a year. They do offer top broadband, but the monthly fees were intolerable and their policy is to only give the new customers the best rates. If you watch telly and utilise the package (wife is the telly addict not me) it's best to oscillate between virgin and sky to make the most of the 'offers' I also hear you can setup a new account under a different name at the same house if you must stick to one.

I have now gone the freeview+ route and concur with Davidc that realistically you can survive quite easily on catchup tv, iplayer. One good thing to come of it is I am now much wiser on the options since sacking off the mainstream provider (virgin/sky) and would rather pay for the eurosport player during cycling season.
 

gavintc

Guru
Location
Southsea
We have been with Virgin for about 6 months and have the basic package; broadband, phone and TV. The prices for call charges on the phone are expensive and we now never use the Virgin phone - mobile is cheaper. The broadband is fast, the TV Ok and I the phone is useless.
 

marinyork

Resting in suspended Animation
Location
Logopolis
^^ MY is probably better up on the Virgin charges than I am. The people in Bristol moved into a house with existing Virgin cable. They took up the Phone and Broadband offer but declined the TV package. They already had the Humax box and so put a dish up to use their freesat + instead. I don't know the price for the TV but I gathered it was a lot.

It's best just getting broadband on its own or broadband + phone (and don't use it).

There are three cut off points of around £40, £60-£70 and £90-100 on virgin where if you pay either side it becomes less value for money. As one particular member on here found out (without realising it) virgin redid these prices recently and he got left on one of the old packages and was paying 'over the odds'. He then rang up and they probably placed them on one of these offers and he thought he was being offered a generous retention offer ^_^ - we can't tell, he wasn't particularly communicative. Anyway.

It's not really worth getting virgin for tv as is the case generally for pay tv. It's USP these days is really the tivo box because their groundbreaking catch up services that pre-dated iPlayer by quite a long way have been copied by everyone else and the company is much less innovative these days. If you wanted more HD channels (many of which are subs) then maybe. If you want eurosport for the cycling and don't want the eurosport player.

BT home vision, there seem to be quite a few enthusiasts on here. Until the new youview boxes came out they were the worst service imho. Don't see the appeal myself.

Virgin broadband is pretty good apart from the upload speeds, the magical superhub which has problems, traffic management and problems during the upgrade.

The thing is getting your own pvr + free catch up service is effort and a one off cost. It's a hard sell in the UK because people see it as a big one off cost rather than something that might last 5-6 years. As zimzum recently remarked we live in a country where the people regard satellite tv as something you should pay a lot of money for rather than something perfectly normal that should be free or cheap (like much of the world views it). So, so many pieces of electronics can do catch up or vod now. It's just one of those British things, brits are very whiney and penny pinchers about broadband costs but will shell out loads on pay tv.
 

BigonaBianchi

Yes I can, Yes I am, Yes I did...Repeat.
Stay clear of virgin media...well make up your own mind but my experience with them has been more than entirely negative. They are the single most inept company I have ever had the misfortune to deal with.

They operate in one mode (upgrade) they have no idea what the words Customer service mean.

It took over 6 months to ditch their landline and tv package. I kept the broadband as they already ran the cables etc.

I found their tv package to be no better than freeview, jmho but that's how I saw it, I never used the landline.

Now I have a smart phone and laptop I get free view on both, and I only use a mobile phone which is cheaper.

After months of hassle with Virgin media and their rude and inept machine my bills dropped from £46/m to £17/m and I have the same broadband. My tv and phone 'experience' is the same if not better actually without these people.
 

Davidc

Guru
Location
Somerset UK
...

The thing is getting your own pvr + free catch up service is effort and a one off cost. It's a hard sell in the UK because people see it as a big one off cost rather than something that might last 5-6 years. As zimzum recently remarked we live in a country where the people regard satellite tv as something you should pay a lot of money for rather than something perfectly normal that should be free or cheap (like much of the world views it). So, so many pieces of electronics can do catch up or vod now. It's just one of those British things, brits are very whiney and penny pinchers about broadband costs but will shell out loads on pay tv.

I suspect that the view of satellite as expensive will continue until penetration of Freesat boxes gets higher. The problem here is, I believe, the way Sky was allowed to have a monopoly and exploit it with sky-high subscriptions. Last I read they were doing well, but still behind Sky's penetration.

One thing we haven't mentioned for The Jogger is that if he has an X box most or all of the catch up services can be watched through that.

Also worth mentioning that some Freeview+ and Freesat+ boxes can also connect online to BBC iplayer, ITV player and The Space, although on my Humax box only BBC has consistently been there.

I'm sure that in time the equipment makers will integrate more of the online services into TVs and external boxes, until then an old laptop and a VGA cable will have to suffice.

Interesting that my daughter has moved to a Welsh valley, and every house has a dish. She reckons nearly all are now on Freesat, as she is, in order to get a full range of English services. I can remember when it was huge masts and aerials to pick up Mendip, Huntshaw Cross, Winter Hill etc. transmitters for the same purpose!
 

phil_hg_uk

I am not a member, I am a free man !!!!!!
I am thinking of trying out one of these Android dongles you plug into the HDMI port on you rTV to see what they are like with netflix and catchup tv, has anyone got any experience with them.

The two I have been looking at are:

JUSTOP K9 Android 4.1 TV Dongle - available in amazon for £39.99 -> CLICK HERE
JUSTOP K9B (MK 809 II) Android 4.1 TV Dongle Adapter - available on amazon for £42.99 -> CLICK HERE

Just connect a wireless mouse & keyboard and away you go.
 

phil_hg_uk

I am not a member, I am a free man !!!!!!

jonny jeez

Legendary Member
I have Virgin so cannot comment on any others.

Broadband speed ok but suffers at peak times

Phone Ok but no caller ID (frustrating as my handsets all have personal caller id options which we cannot utilise)

Hub is poor for Apple products, regularly...I mean weekly drops the service to apple devices in the house, and requires constant reboots to cure...for a week untill it happens again. No amount of channel shifting and router reconfig helps.

TV is fine, I don't do Tivo but do have a couple of boxes and can record etc. Problem with the TV is that, at precisely midnight it locks up, if I happen to be fast forwarding, it will skip for a good hour before the controller allows me to stop and rewind. Other than that its solid.

I would prefer SKY but don't want to loose my email addresses.and have never been frustrated enough to find out if I can port them across to Sky.
 
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